Matchday Memories: On This Day 1989 – See Sill’s Sky Blues Entertain Everton & Mug Them!

John Sillett CCFC gaffer

On this day (19th August) in 1989 the Sky Blues ‘gaffer’ was still John Sillett in his third season in full charge and ‘Sills’ was hoping for a great start to the new Division One campaign. City had a home game against an Everton side stuffed full of expensive stars and 18,172 fans turned up to watch the outcome.

Sky Blue Gary Bannister

In the event, the spectators saw the Sky Blues ride their luck and the top division aristocrats end up being mugged by the home side.  The Toffees, with new signings Mike Newell and Norman Whiteside, made many more chances than the Sky Blues but by the time half time came there were no goals to show for it.

Sky Blue Speedie

The scoreless nature of the game remained intact until two thirds of the game had passed. City only had three real chances in the whole game and scored from two of them!

On 67 minutes City’s wide forward Gary Bannister kicked things off by putting the ball past the very experienced Everton ‘keeper, Neville Southall after a great overhead pass from David Smith. City hung on until the last minute of full time when the game was put beyond the Toffemen’s reach.

The wait was worth it as David Speedie‘s successful ‘jack-knifed’ headed effort was truly ‘special’. In truth, the 2-0 score line in this Division One opener flattered City.

Thanks to former CCFPA committee member Dean Nelson you can watch the goal highlights by clicking on the image below:-

Sillett’s CCFC lined up as follows:-

Steve Ogrizovic, Brian Borrows, Tony Dobson, Dean Emerson, Brian Kilcline, Trevor Peake, Micky Gynn, David Speedie, (the late) Cyrille Regis, Gary Bannister and David Smith

We are proud to say that all of them except goalscorer Gary later signed up for membership of CCFPA! The whole Sky Blue family mourned the passing of our former player and ‘gaffer’ ‘Snoz’ Sillett in 2021!

Everton‘s team took the field as follows:-

Neville Southall, Ian Snodin, Ian Pointon, Kevin Ratcliffe, Dave Watson, Norman Whiteside, Pat Nevin, Brian McCall, Graham Sharp, Mike Newell (sub. Tony Cottee) and Kevin Sheedy.  Referee: R.Wiseman

CCFC 1989-90

The Toffees got an exact revenge in early December beating the Sky Blues 2-0 at Goodison and finished higher (sixth) in Division One than the Sky Blues (twelfth). The Liverpudlians wouldn’t have been happy that this season their City rivals Liverpool took the title a full nine points clear of Aston Villa. There were two London clubs (Charlton Athletic and way bottom side Millwall) in the relegated trio in 1989-90 as Sheffield Wednesday also went down in eighteenth on the same points but a somewhat worse goal average than Luton Town who clung on to safety.

Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young for sourcing the images.